DeltaWalker: A Soft, Linearly Actuated Delta Quadruped Robot

Abstract

Quadruped robots offer a versatile solution for navigating complex terrain, making them valuable for applications such as industrial automation or search and rescue. Although quadrupeds are more complex than bipeds, they are easier to balance and control and require fewer joints to actuate compared to hexapods. Traditional quadruped designs, however, often feature complex leg mechanisms that are difficult to scale and require many actuators.
We introduce the DeltaWalker, a novel quadruped robot that uses linearly actuated Delta robots as legs. Delta robots offer advantages such as precision and scalability, while still being able to move with three degrees of freedom. This design is inspired by DeltaHands, a 4-fingered hand robot with soft, 3D-printed linear Delta robots. We turn the DeltaHands upside down and adapt the design for locomotion. We explore various gait patterns, including manually designed and trajectory-optimized gaits, evaluated in both simulated and real-world environments. We also describe the system kinematics and investigate other capabilities, such as rotating in place. The findings from these evaluations demonstrate the potential of the DeltaWalker as a simpler, scalable, omnidirectional quadruped robot.